Soap bubbles have been entertaining children and even adults for hundreds of years. Old paintings have shown children blowing bubbles with clay pipes. Children enjoy playing with bubbles outdoors and even indoors such as during bath time. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century bottles of bubble solution were produced and marketed as a children's toy.
A bubble is made of transparent water enclosing transparent air. The water is typically soap film comprising a solution of water, soap such as dish soap, and glycerin. The soap film defining a bubble is as thin as the visible light wavelength which results in interferences of light reflecting off the front and back surfaces of the thin soap film. These interferences create different colored iridescence which, together with the bubble's spherical shape and fragility, contributes to the magical effect on children and adults alike. Each color perceived in the bubble is the result of varying thicknesses of the soap bubble film.
In lieu of clay pipes used in previous years, the marketed bubble solution also typically includes a wand of wire or plastic. The wand has a circular loop, or a loop of a different geometry, at one end and a handle for grasping at an opposite end. The circular loop is dipped into the soap solution and carefully withdrawn. A film of soap solution will extend between the inner peripheries of the loop. The wand can then be gently waved through the air. The movement of the wand creates a gentle airflow through the loop to create and expel bubbles from the backside of the wand. Often a plurality of bubbles can be created with a single dip of the wand into the soap solution. The most successful bubble production is realized if the airflow through the wand loop is relatively laminar instead of turbulent.
Enjoyment of producing bubbles increases with the number of bubbles able to be formed. While bubble machines are available, they can be often large and thus not portable, and the machines are complex for a child to operate. Therefore, there is a need for a device able to mechanically produce quantities of bubbles and further wherein the device is portable and child friendly.